


Solar Eclipse

by orphan_account



Category: Tangled (2010), Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Kidnapping, Maybe - Freeform, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Moon!Varian au, Sacrifice, Sad with a Happy Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Verbal Abuse, my worst summary ever lord save me, quirin gots some secrets, the tags make it sound more hardcore than it actually is, this theory will be the death of me, varian is very depressed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-29 21:01:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Varian appears to be playing a bigger part in the mystery of the black rocks than what the gang originally assumed. While this may be a bit surprising and confusing, one thing is for certain.They need to get him back safely before the next full moon.





	Solar Eclipse

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I never thought I would ever write a Tangled fic, never mind a Disney fic. But this show is so amazing? I love it? I love my sassy boy Varian?
> 
> Anyway, this fandom needs way more attention. WAY MORE. And this is my contribution.

_Varian was hunched over his workbench, gloved hand carefully poised over a flask, a pipette between his tense fingers. Black bangs were slowly obscuring his vision but he feared that if he motioned to move them away it would disturb the chemical compound currently bubbling below._

 

_Hopefully the amalgamation between his newly discovered element and the compound cooking wouldn’t result in it exploding in his face… again. Varian doesn’t know what he’ll do if this didn’t work. He’s been quickly running out of ideas, and with each failure he falls deeper into a pit of depression and anger ~~because it was all his fault.~~ _

 

_He gnaws at the inside of his cheek while gingerly tipping the pipette over the opening of the flask. “Okay,” He whispers to himself. “I’ve got this. I’ve got this.” Careful, Varian squeezes the end of the pipette and watches as a single drop of the element plops down into the mixture. A second passes, and then another. He sighs in relief. “It didn’t blow up!” He cheers, and from beside him Rudiger jumps up and down happily. Varian smiles, scratches the racoon under his chin, and starts walking over to the black rocks._

 

_As the days go by his basement gets more and more overrun by the indestructible mineral. The rocks were on par with pests. Despite this, in the middle of the basement still stands his father, encased in amber like a prisoner. It’s looming figure made his chest ache. No one should ever see their parent look so… helpless._

 

 _But that’ll all be over soon. Varian is almost positive that it’s going to work this time._ It has to.

 

_“Ready, Rudiger?” The racoon climbs onto his shoulder, hiding behind a lock of shaggy hair. The weight of his only friend is comforting. Varian sweats; the hand holding his flask shaking slightly. He was scared, no, terrified that it wasn’t going to work. The thought of yet another failure left his stomach in knots._

 

_He tips the flask over and the concoction drips down onto the rock. It sizzles for a moment, smoke erupting from its form, before seeping into the amber. Varian’s biting his lip so hard in anticipation that it begins to bleed. Then, the glorious sound of a crack reaches his ears. He holds his breath, eyes widening as the crack splinters across the amber prison._

 

_Quickly grabbing a hammer from his workbench, Varian helps speed the process by slamming against the fissure. Bits and pieces chip away, and suddenly Varian is face to face with the top half of his father._

 

_“Dad!” He practically screams. “Dad you’re alive! You’re okay!” Burly arms wrap around Varian’s skinny form, and suddenly the teen finds himself in a much needed warm embrace. Without realizing it, he starts to cry, face buried in his dad’s shoulder._

 

_“Father, I’m so sorry.” He sobs. A large hand strokes his hair. “ I—”_

 

_“Varian,” His father’s voice is emotionless, eerie. “What have you done?” What? Varian looks up in confusion before letting out a blood curdling scream. Quirin looks as if he had his eyes gouged out; streaks of amber dripping from his empty sockets like demented tears. Both of his skinny arms were grabbed, the force of the hold painful and bone-grinding._

 

_“Varian,” Varian closes his eyes. He wants to wake up from this nightmare. “Don’t let them find you.” Out of the corner of his eye, Varian notices that the walls were littered with a familiar marking.  “Don’t let them use you.” Quirin continues._

 

_“Who?!” Suddenly, rocks shoot up from the ground, they all point towards Varian, their tips like accusing knives. “Father, what’s happening?!” He screams, and unexpectedly, his gloves disappear. The moment his bare hands touch Quirin, said man begins to cry out in agony. Varian watches in horror as his father ages exponentially before his very eyes, until there is nothing but dust in his hands._

 

_Varian falls to his knees and stares at what once was his father._

  


Varian wakes to the sound of his own scream; the intensity of it echoes off the walls of his sparse cell and bounces right back to him. The phantom scream was almost as loud as the organ currently slamming against his ribcage, going a mile a minute. The exhilarated heartbeat was loud in his ears, so loud he thought that, if Rudiger were here, he would be able to hear its beating too. Varian sat up on his cot and put his hand over his heart, as if it would somehow calm it.

 

Sweat was trickling down his neck, making the hair at his nape sticky and damp with perspiration. His throat was dry, face probably red and streaked with salty tears. Varian hated it when he fell asleep in this hellhole. Everytime exhaustion overtook him, he would suffer from another nightmare. It was an endless cycle.

 

Then again, there’s nothing much to do besides sleep, from where he is. The cell he was thrown into was private to say the least; far away from other cells, isolated from everyone. He was in solitary confinement; the only time he saw another human being was when they slid food under his door, and even that wasn’t saying much. There were no windows, hell, he didn’t even have bars to peer through. Just a thick metal door. Impenetrable.

 

During the first week of Varian being locked away he would scream and bang on the door over and over and over again. But nothing happened. Nobody came to shut him up. Varian was alone, without even prison guards to keep him company. If he wasn’t fed twice a day (or so he estimated) Varian would have thought that he was left down there to rot and die.

 

Finally having calmed down, Varian stilled his breath to listen to his surroundings. There was no snoring, which usually was a sign that it was daytime, and a slither of light, shining through the crack under the door. The contrast between the light and the engulfing darkness was overwhelming and hurt his eyes. _When was the last time I was outside?_ He thought.

 

Varian usually spent his time inside, fiddling with machines and experimenting. But now he wished that he didn’t take the warmth of a sunny day for granted. Varian would probably never see the sun again. Unless he starred in a public execution.

 

 _That’s not really a bad idea,_ a voice, his voice, whispers menacingly. _You have no future. Nothing outside these four walls. You’re too stupid to save your father. Not to mention no one even_ likes _you._

 

“Shut up!” Varian says to nothing. After a moment the teen giggles in amusement. “I’m talking to myself.” He says and laughs, harder now. “I’m literally talking to myself! I’m going insane!” Varian falls back onto the lumpy cot and clutches his stomach, body wracking with laughter. The back of his head ached from the force of his amusement; he hasn’t felt like this in forever. And then it suddenly stopped being funny, and Varian began to hyperventilate because he was going _insane_ and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

 

 _I want this to end._ He thought. _And I might know how._

  


* * *

 

  


Eugene has been trekking with Blondie and Snake Woman for almost a month know, with nothing to show for. The most noticeable thing that they’ve seen was a bearded lady and a man who’s able to swallow fire like a tic-tac.

 

A part of him thinks that the spooky black rocks aren’t leading them all to something great or game-changing. Eugene thinks that the rocks will bring nothing but more questions, questions that they won’t be able to find the answer to anytime soon.

 

“The rocks are getting closer and closer together, now!” Rapunzel notices, turning her head to look towards them. From his perch on her shoulder, Pastel chirrups in joy. The knot in Eugene’s stomach gets tighter.

 

Eugene sends his girlfriend a weak smile, “Blondie, not to be a mean cloud raining on everyone's parade or anything but we still don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing.” Her expression turns subdued, and Eugene feels like the scum of the earth. And the boyfriend of the year award goes to…

 

On her own horse, Eugene forgot its name, Cassandra steers closer to where both he and Rapunzel are riding Max. Her dark hair is an absolute mess, but then again, they all look a bit unkempt (not that Eugene would _ever_ admit to that out loud, especially in front of the She-Devil herself.) They haven’t seen a town for a few days now. Thankfully, the trio is all stocked on food and drink, but there are some things that are unpackable; like a shower for instance.

 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Cassandra begins. “But I agree with Eugene on this one.” Ha! That’s one for Eugene and, uh, twenty-seven for Cassandra. But, hey, who's counting anyway? “What if these rocks lead us to some dark pit or something? Are we just going to jump in it? My main priority is to keep you safe, Rapunzel.”

 

“I know, guys, really I do but… I can’t help but just _feel_ like we’re getting closer to the bottom of all this.” Max neighs in understanding, or something. Eugene doesn’t really understand horse language.

 

“Okay, okay,” Eugene sighs, trying to calm his nerves. “We’ve gone this far no problem anyway.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“This is a problem.” Eugene squeaks.

 

The abandoned house in front of them looks like something taken straight out of a horror book. It was old in appearance; chipped paint, unhinged shutters, broken windows, Get Out signs stabbed into the ground. The whole shebang. Even the stone pavement leading up to the splintered entryway was cracked with age and erosion, grass peeking between the gaps. It being on a cliff high above the rolling waves of the sea was the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae.

 

 _This looks like the perfect place to get stabbed in,_ he thought.

 

“Uh, well, it’s not like we expected the destination to look cozy or anything… right?” Rapunzel awkwardly laughs, rubbing her arm. A gentle breeze plays with the frizz of her hair, and the light from the half-full moon above them almost makes the golden locks appear pale. Cassandra runs a hand through her own hair, and Eugene can only _imagine_ what his looks like. Actually, he doesn’t want to imagine. He’s fine living in sweet oblivion.

 

“Well I guess there’s only one thing left to do.” Cassandra says, and unanimously they all take a step towards the creepy building. “I hope I don’t regret agreeing to this.”

 

The interior of the building is the complete opposite of the exterior. Eugene expected the place to be crawling with beady-eyed roaches and flesh-eating rodents, or at least covered in a thick layer of dust. Instead, they walk into a neatly kept… home? It looked more like a lodging to him but, hey, who’s Eugene to tell.

 

The first room they walked into literally had weapons lined across the entire wall. Apparently they didn’t care for a weapon cabinet, like the one Cassandra usually keeps for her deadly possessions. Speaking of which, the lady-in-waiting was practically salivating over the swords, daggers, javelins, and other harmful things littering the walls.

 

Eugene leans over to her and whispers, fighting back a smile, “Do you and the sharp killy-things need some alone time? Because me and Blondie can keep looking for clues.” That earned him a punch to the shoulder and a cold glare. Totally worth it.

 

“Hey, look!” Eugene turns around, and it appears that Rapunzel is already in the next room over, moving ahead of everyone else. The ex-thief makes his way towards his girlfriend, curious (and also cautious) of what she found. This room was simple: a staircase led to a second floor on the left, a desk against the far wall, a pile of shoes to his right (Eugene’s just going to ignore those.)

 

Rapunzel was standing over a desk, some pieces of paper in one hand and an unlit blue candle in the other. She holds out the papers towards Eugene and points to the wax of the candle. “This is still a bit warm! Someone must have been here recently!”

 

“Then how come we didn’t see them on our way over here?” Eugene asked aloud, shuffling through the papers Rapunzel gave him. Most of them were written in weird symbols, but he can tell from the pictures that whatever it is, it seems important. “It’s hard to get around without a horse in this area.”

 

Blondie hums in agreement before making her way towards a bookshelf. She pulls out a few and begins to sift through them. Eugene goes to lean against the desk to continue looking through the papers, but the moment his butt makes contact the entire desk shifts downwards; the top portion of the desk then literally _flips_ over to reveal drawings nailed to the wood on the other side. Not a very good hiding place, but Eugene isn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

“Okay, weird,” Eugene whispers to himself as he glances towards the drawings. There was one of a blue covered flower and a moon, another with the pointy rocks of death, another with Varian appearing to be sacrificed— _wait a moment._

 

“Rapunzel,” Eugene calls, throat suddenly dry. “You’re gonna wanna look at this.”

  


 

**Author's Note:**

> I would just like to mention that this fandom is literally amazing. We're small but the people in the fandom are so?? Good??? Have you seen the art?? The fanfics? (despite the small amount of both)
> 
> I love you all. Hope you enjoyed chapter one of (hopefully) a multi-chaptered story. DM me if you want to cry over my sweet angst machine Varian 
> 
> (Oh yeah, um, please comment and kudos. They make me happy :'))


End file.
